The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is bringing on Lyn Redwood, the former president of Children's Health Defense-a group widely criticized for promoting anti-vaccine misinformation-as a special government employee within its vaccine safety office, CDC officials confirmed. Redwood's appointment marks a significant shift in vaccine policy oversight under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the founder of the very group she once led.
Redwood will work in the CDC office that monitors vaccine safety, including the oversight of databases that collect and analyze adverse event reports from the public and health care providers. Her hiring comes as Kennedy moves to overhaul key federal health agencies since assuming leadership of HHS during President Trump's second administration.
"Removing a known neurotoxin from being injected into our most vulnerable populations is a good place to start with Making America Healthy Again," Redwood stated in prepared remarks released ahead of her scheduled presentation Thursday to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Her presentation focuses on thimerosal, a vaccine preservative long debunked by health authorities as a cause of autism. The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have repeatedly affirmed no credible evidence supports a link between thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders. "The evidence does not support an association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism spectrum disorder or other neurodevelopmental disorders," the CDC stated in a report briefly posted online before the meeting.
Critics, however, warn Redwood's appointment could further erode public confidence in vaccine safety. "Lyn Redwood is well-known for spreading vaccine misinformation," said Fiona Havers, a veteran CDC vaccine official. "It is troubling that Redwood may now have an official role within HHS and will potentially be in a position to interfere with official messaging about vaccine safety."
Medical experts also raised concern about inaccuracies in the presentation materials prepared by Redwood. Robert F. Berman, professor emeritus at the University of California Davis, said he was falsely cited in a study included in Redwood's report. "To the best of my knowledge, the study in rats referred to...does not exist," Berman said, noting he had not authored any paper linking thimerosal to neuroimmune effects.
That citation has since been removed from the online presentation, which also references Redwood's past claims that aluminum in vaccines contributes to autism. "I really thought that they would take immediate action, and that they would stop these exposures," Redwood said in a past interview, recalling her attempts to influence CDC officials about vaccine ingredients.
Redwood has publicly linked her son's autism to mercury exposure from vaccines, repeating these claims as recently as October 2024 in a podcast with Kennedy. Decades of research have found no link between autism and vaccine components, including mercury and aluminum. "Thimerosal was removed from all routine childhood vaccines in the US out of an abundance of caution," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases. "Many studies have demonstrated that it is safe and has no association with neurodevelopmental disorders."
